Structures for sealing elevator hoistway doors from the landings in buildings have been proposed. The reason for sealing the hoistways from the remainder of the building is to prevent the hoistways from becoming conduits for smoke from one building floor to another in the event of a fire in the building. These systems have vertically reciprocating sealing panels on the upper and lower portions of the door frame. These panels are reciprocated vertically as a result of contact with the landing doors as the latter are opened and closed. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,734,238, granted May 22, 1973 to A.V. Secresty, et al; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,735,293, granted Apr. 5, 1988 to L.R. Everhart, et al. are representative of such elevator systems. These systems are fine for the limited purpose for which they are intended.
With modern-day elevator systems operating at ever increasing speeds, chiefly due to the extremely tall buildings being built, the problem of hoistway cab-induced air turbulence adversely affecting cab ride and passenger comfort has increased. The higher the cab speed, the more noise and buffeting of the cab will occur. With present cab door systems, at high cab speeds air drafts inside of the cab can occur through the cab doors. The net result is a less than ideal ride from the passenger's viewpoint. The ride quality in such high speed elevators could be enhanced by the provision of a cab door system which effectively seals the interior of the cab from the hoistway when the cab doors are closed. Ideally, such a system would be susceptible to use in original equipment and would be factory installed as original equipment; and could also be installed as retrofit equipment in existing elevator systems in the field.